Magnetic-reconnection generated shock waves as a driver of solar surges

Abstract

We found that a surge consists of multiple shock features. In our high-spatiotemporal spectroscopic observation of the surge, each shock is identified with the sudden appearance of an absorption feature at the blue wings of the Ca II 8542 Å line and Hα line that gradually shifts to the red wings. The shock features overlap with one another with the time interval of 110 s, which is much shorter than the duration of each shock feature, 300-400 s. This finding suggests that the multiple shocks might not have originated from a train of sinusoidal waves generated by oscillations and flows in the photosphere. As we found the signature of the magnetic flux cancelations at the base of the surge, we conclude that the multiple shock waves in charge of the surge were generated by the magnetic reconnection that occurred in the low atmosphere in association with the flux cancelation. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..